A Minimal Guide to Launching Your Remote Podcast for Free
Here’s a no frills guide that will help you prepare, record and publish your first podcast.
This is for individuals or companies looking for the bare minimum technical steps to get started. We’ll cover the classic structure of one host interviewing a guest.
I’ve explored countless tools to improve and simplify my process when working on the Hummus and Tech podcast. These are the minimal steps to get you there:
Ideation
Ask yourself and write down your answers:
- What is your podcast about?
- Who is your target audience?
- What type of content is useful to them?
- Whom would your audience enjoy listening to?
- What’s the format and length of the podcast?
- Will you ask a set of repeating questions to every guest?
- What’s a cool, but descriptive title + tagline for your podcast?
Mindset
Prepare beforehand. Once you start recording aim for scrappiness.
Improvise.
It’s easier to record a whole episode in one go than to pause the recording every time things don’t go as planned. If you end up with multiple takes then you’ll have to spend more time editing.
Setup
Find a quiet room without outside noise.
There’s no need for purchasing mics or expensive equipment. Your existing headphones, and your computer mic will do.
Avoid using bluetooth handsets because of their delay, and in case batteries run out.
Here’s my remote home studio during lockdown, when Google for Startups podcast studio was closed.
Recording
- Open your browser and go to Riverside.fm
- Sign up for free and start a new studio session.
- Invite the guest with a link. They can join their iPhone or on their computer.
Riverside.fm is a remote podcast recording studio. It’s like using Zoom, but saves each voice in different tracks. Recordings are local, making them higher quality. You and your guest just need to wait until the recordings get uploaded.
Turn on your video cameras even if you won’t be recording with video. Catching each other’s expressions will make the conversation feel more natural.
You can also add a music intro while recording live to skip editing afterwards.
The Guest
For 20 minute long episodes, schedule at least 1 hour with your guest.
Send them topic bullets and some questions in advance. Don’t talk about them until you start recording. You want your audience to hear your authentic reactions and follow up questions.
Ask your guest what they want to get out of the podcast.
Do they want to promote a product, the fact that they are hiring, or a specific cause? It will make the conversation go smoother because they now know you care about what’s in it for them.
Editing
This is the step that scares most people. Don’t panic. You can export the podcast from Riverside.fm as it is, and skip this step.
To remove the “uhmms” or cut undesired parts you try an online tool called Descript. It lets you edit your podcast as if you were editing a Google Doc file.
Otherwise stick to the classics: download GarageBand on a mac, or Audacity on a PC.
Logo
Search on Google for “podcast logos” for inspiration. Then use Canva or Figma to create your logo. You can even look for templates.
Don’t drive yourself crazy. The original logo of my podcast “Hummus and Tech” was a hummus image I found online on top of a yellow background.
Distribution
Sign up for anchor.fm and upload your new episode. It will publish your episode on Spotify, and other platforms. It also gets you a simple website you can share on social media.
Here’s the extra step you need to distribute your podcast in the Apple podcasts app.
Share it!
That’s it. Your podcast is now live! Make sure to share it on your social networks, and within the relevant communities.
I’d love to know if this guide helped you launch your podcast!
Get more stories and insights like these in your inbox.